TED2014
Deborah Gordon: What ants teach us about the brain, cancer and the Internet
Deborah Gordon: Cka na mesojme milingonat per trurin, kancerin dhe internetin
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Ekologia Deborah Gordon studion milingonat kudo që ajo mund ti gjejnë ato - në shkretëtirë, në tropik, në kuzhinë e saj ... Në këtë bisedë interesante, shpjegon ajo manine e saj me insekte shumicën prej nesh do të për fat të mirë swat larg pa një mendim të dytë. Ajo argumenton se jeta e milingones ofron një model të dobishëm për të mësuar në lidhje me shumë tema të tjera, duke përfshirë sëmundjet, të teknologjisë dhe trurin e njeriut.
Deborah Gordon - Ecologist
By studying how ant colonies work without any one leader, Deborah Gordon has identified striking similarities in how ant colonies, brains, cells and computer networks regulate themselves. Full bio
By studying how ant colonies work without any one leader, Deborah Gordon has identified striking similarities in how ant colonies, brains, cells and computer networks regulate themselves. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:13
I study ants
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Une i studioje milingonat
00:14
in the desert, in the tropical forest
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ne shkretetire, ne pyllin tropikal
00:18
and in my kitchen,
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dhe ne kuzhinen time,
00:19
and in the hills around Silicon Valley where I live.
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dhe ne kodrat perreth Lugines Silicon ku une jetoj.
00:23
I've recently realized that ants
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Se fundmi kam kuptuar se milingonat
00:25
are using interactions differently
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jane duke perdorur bashkeveprimin ne menyre te ndryshme
00:27
in different environments,
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ne ambiente te ndryshme,
00:29
and that got me thinking
that we could learn from this
that we could learn from this
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dhe kjo me beri te mendoj
se ne mund te mesojme nga kjo
se ne mund te mesojme nga kjo
00:31
about other systems,
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per sisteme te tjera,
00:32
like brains and data networks that we engineer,
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sikurse truri dhe rrjetet e te dhenave qe ne ndertojme,
00:38
and even cancer.
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dhe madje kancerin.
00:41
So what all these systems have in common
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Pra cka kane te perbashket keto sisteme
00:43
is that there's no central control.
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eshte se nuk ka kontroll qendror.
00:45
An ant colony consists of sterile female workers --
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Nje koloni e miliongonave perbehet nga puntoret sterile femra--
00:49
those are the ants you see walking around —
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ato jane milingonat qe i shihni qe shetisin--
00:52
and then one or more reproductive females
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dhe pastaj nje ose me shume femra riprodhuese
00:54
who just lay the eggs.
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te cilat vetem leshojne vezet.
00:56
They don't give any instructions.
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Ato nuk japin asnje udhezim.
00:58
Even though they're called queens,
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Edhe pse quhen mbretresha,
01:00
they don't tell anybody what to do.
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ato nuk i tregojne askujt cfare te bejne.
01:02
So in an ant colony, there's no one in charge,
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Pra ne nje koloni te milingonave, nuk eshte askush ne krye,
01:05
and all systems like this without central control
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dhe te gjitha sistemet si kjo pa kontrollin qendror
01:08
are regulated using very simple interactions.
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jane te sistemuar duke perdorur bashkeveprime shume te thjeshta.
01:12
Ants interact using smell.
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Milingonat bashkeveprojne duke perdorur eren(nuhatjen)
01:15
They smell with their antennae,
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Ato nuhasin me antenen e tyre,
01:17
and they interact with their antennae,
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dhe ato bashkeveprojne me antenen e tyre,
01:20
so when one ant touches another with its antennae,
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pra kur nje milingone prek tjetren me antenen e saj
01:23
it can tell, for example, if the other ant
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mund te tregoj, per shembull, nese milingona tjeter
01:24
is a nestmate
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eshte nje partner foleje
01:26
and what task that other ant has been doing.
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dhe cka ishin detyrat e milingonave tjera.
01:30
So here you see a lot of ants moving around
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Pra ja ku kemi shume miliongona qe sillen per rreth
01:33
and interacting in a lab arena
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duke bashkevepruar ne nje zone laboratorike
01:35
that's connected by tubes to two other arenas.
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qe eshte e lidhur me dy tuba me dy zona tjera.
01:39
So when one ant meets another,
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Pra kur nje milingone takon tjetren,
01:41
it doesn't matter which ant it meets,
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nuk ka rendesi cilen milingone takon,
01:43
and they're actually not transmitting
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dhe keto faktikisht nuk jane duke transmetuar
01:45
any kind of complicated signal or message.
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asnje lloj sinjali ose mesazhi te komplikuar.
01:49
All that matters to the ant is the rate
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E gjitha cka i intereson milingones eshte norma
01:51
at which it meets other ants.
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në të cilën ajo takon milingonat e tjera.
01:54
And all of these interactions, taken together,
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Dhe te gjitha keto bashkeveprime, te bera bashke,
01:56
produce a network.
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prodhojne nje rrjet.
01:59
So this is the network of the ants
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Pra ky eshte rrjeti i milingonave
02:01
that you just saw moving around in the arena,
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qe e keni pare qe sillet ne zona,
02:04
and it's this constantly shifting network
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dhe eshte ky nderrim konstant i rrjetit
02:07
that produces the behavior of the colony,
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qe prodhon sjelljen e kolonise,
02:10
like whether all the ants are hiding inside the nest,
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si pershembull te gjitha milingonat fshehur brenda ne fole,
02:12
or how many are going out to forage.
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ose sa jane duke shkuar ne foragjere.
02:15
A brain actually works in the same way,
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Truri faktkisht punon ne menyre te njejte,
02:17
but what's great about ants is
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por cka eshte e mrekullushme rreth miliongonave eshte
02:18
that you can see the whole network as it happens.
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se ju mund te shihni te tere rrjetin se si ndodh.
02:23
There are more than 12,000 species of ants,
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Ka me shume se 12.000 specie te miliongonave,
02:26
in every conceivable environment,
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ne nje ambient shume te pershtkoatshem,
02:29
and they're using interactions differently
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dhe ata jane duke perdorur bashkeveprimin ndryshe
02:31
to meet different environmental challenges.
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per te perballur sfida te ndryshme mjedisore.
02:34
So one important environmental challenge
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Pra nje sfide e rendesishme e mjedisit,
02:36
that every system has to deal with
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qe cdo sistem duhet te merret
02:38
is operating costs, just what it takes
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eshte shpenzimi operativ, cka nevojitet
02:40
to run the system.
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per te funksionuar sistemi.
02:42
And another environmental challenge is resources,
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Dhe një tjetër sfidë e mjedisit është e burimeve,
02:45
finding them and collecting them.
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gjetjen dhe mbledhjen e tyre.
02:47
In the desert, operating costs are high
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Në shkretëtirë, shpenzimet operative janë të larta
02:50
because water is scarce,
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sepse uji është i pakët,
02:52
and the seed-eating ants that I study in the desert
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dhe milingonat farë-ngrënese që i studioj në shkretëtirë
02:54
have to spend water to get water.
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duhet të shpenzojnë ujë për të marrë ujë
02:57
So an ant outside foraging,
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Pra nje milingone jashte tagjise,
02:59
searching for seeds in the hot sun,
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qe kerkon fara ne diellin e nxehte,
03:01
just loses water into the air.
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vetem humbet ujin ne ajer.
03:03
But the colony gets its water
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Por kolonia e merr ujin e saj
03:05
by metabolizing the fats out of the seeds
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duke metabolizuar yndyrat e pa nevojshme nga farat
03:07
that they eat.
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qe ato hane.
03:09
So in this environment, interactions are used
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Pra ne kete mjedis, bashkeveprimet perdoren
03:12
to activate foraging.
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per te aktivizuar tagjite.
03:14
An outgoing forager doesn't go out unless
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Nje kerkues i ushqimit nuk del perderisa
03:16
it gets enough interactions with returning foragers,
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nuk merr bashkeveprime te mjaftushme me kerkuesit e ushimit qe kthehen,
03:18
and what you see are the returning foragers
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dhe ajo cka shihni jane kerkuesit e ushqimit qe kthehen
03:20
going into the tunnel, into the nest,
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qe shkojne ne tunel, ne fole,
03:22
and meeting outgoing foragers on their way out.
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dhe takojne kerkuesit e t tjere qe pergatiten per me dalur.
03:25
This makes sense for the ant colony,
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Kjo ka kuptim per kolonine e milingonave,
03:26
because the more food there is out there,
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sepse sa me shume ushqim qe ka ,
03:29
the more quickly the foragers find it,
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as me shpejt e gjejne kerkuesit ate,
03:31
the faster they come back,
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sa me shpejt qe kthehen,
03:32
and the more foragers they send out.
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aq me shume kerkues dergojne jashte.
03:35
The system works to stay stopped,
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Sistemi funksionon te qendroj i ndalur,
03:37
unless something positive happens.
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derisa dicka poztive ndodh.
03:39
So interactions function to activate foragers.
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Pra bashkeveprimi funksionon per te aktivizuar kerkuesit.
03:43
And we've been studying
the evolution of this system.
the evolution of this system.
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Dhe ne e kemi studjuar
evulucionin e ketij sistemi.
evulucionin e ketij sistemi.
03:46
First of all, there's variation.
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Se pari, ka ndryshime.
03:47
It turns out that colonies are different.
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Duket se kolonite jane te ndryshme.
03:50
On dry days, some colonies forage less,
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Ne ditet e thata, disa koloni kerkojne me pak,
03:52
so colonies are different in how
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pra kolonite ndryshojne ne menyrens
03:54
they manage this trade-off
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se si menaxhojne kete tregti
03:55
between spending water to search for seeds
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ndermjet shpenzimit te ujit teksa kerkojne per fara
03:58
and getting water back in the form of seeds.
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dhe kthimin e ujit ne formen e farave.
04:02
And we're trying to understand why
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Jemi duke provuar te kuptojme pse
04:03
some colonies forage less than others
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disa koloni kerkojne me pak se tjerat
04:05
by thinking about ants as neurons,
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duke menduar per milingonat si neurone,
04:08
using models from neuroscience.
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e duke perdorur modele nga neurosheknca.
04:10
So just as a neuron adds up its stimulation
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Pra, ashtu sic neuroni shton stimulin
04:13
from other neurons to decide whether to fire,
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nga te tjere neuron per te vendosur nese te shkrepe,
04:15
an ant adds up its stimulation from other ants
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nje milingone shton stumulin e saj nga miliongona te tjera
04:18
to decide whether to forage.
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per te vendosur nese duhet te kerkoj.
04:20
And what we're looking for is whether there might be
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Dhe ajo që ne jemi duke kërkuar është se a mund të ketë
04:21
small differences among colonies
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diferenca të vogla ndërmjet kolonive
04:23
in how many interactions each ant needs
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ne sa nderveprime secila miliongone ka nevoje
04:27
before it's willing to go out and forage,
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para se te jete e gatshme te dal te kerkoj ushqim,
04:29
because a colony like that would forage less.
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sepse nje koloni e tille mund te kerkoj me pak.
04:32
And this raises an analogous question about brains.
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Dhe kjo ngre një pyetje analoge në lidhje me trurin.
04:35
We talk about the brain,
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Ne flasim per trurin,
04:37
but of course every brain is slightly different,
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por sigurisht qe c'do tru eshte paksa i ndryshem,
04:40
and maybe there are some individuals
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dhe ndoshta jane disa individ
04:41
or some conditions
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ose disa kushte
04:42
in which the electrical properties of neurons are such
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ne te cilat karakteristikat elektrike te neuroneve jane te tilla
04:46
that they require more stimulus to fire,
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qe kerkojne me shume stimuj per te reaguar,
04:50
and that would lead to differences in brain function.
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dhe kjo na dergon ne ndryshime ne funksionin e trurit.
04:53
So in order to ask evolutionary questions,
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Pra ne vend se te pyesim per pyetje te zhvillimit,
04:56
we need to know about reproductive success.
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ne kemi nevoje te dime rreth suksesit te riprodhimit.
04:58
This is a map of the study site
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Kjo eshte nje harte e faqes se studimit
05:01
where I have been tracking this population
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ku kam qene duke gjurmuar kete popullate
05:03
of harvester ant colonies for 28 years,
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kolonie të milingonave korrëse për 28 vjet,
05:06
which is about as long as a colony lives.
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c'ka perkon pothuajse me jetegjatesine e kolonise.
05:09
Each symbol is a colony,
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Secili simbol eshte nje koloni,
05:11
and the size of the symbol is
how many offspring it had,
how many offspring it had,
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dhe madhesia e simbolit eshte
sa pasardhes ajo kishte,
sa pasardhes ajo kishte,
05:14
because we were able to use genetic variation
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pasi ishim ne gjendje te perdorim variacione gjentike
05:16
to match up parent and offspring colonies,
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per te perputhur prinderit dhe pasardhesit e kolonive,
05:19
that is, to figure out which colonies
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qe do te thote, te zbulojme cilat koloni
05:22
were founded by a daughter queen
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ishin gjetur nga nje vajze e mbretreshes
05:24
produced by which parent colony.
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prodhuar nga cili koloni prindrore.
05:26
And this was amazing for me, after all these years,
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Dhe kjo ishte e mrekullushme per mua, pas gjithe ketyre viteve,
05:28
to find out, for example, that colony 154,
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te zbuloj, per shembull, se kolonia 154,
05:31
whom I've known well for many years,
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te cilen e kam njohur mire per shume vite,
05:33
is a great-grandmother.
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eshte nje stergjyshe.
05:35
Here's her daughter colony,
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Ketu eshte kolonia e vajzes se saj,
05:37
here's her granddaughter colony,
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ketu eshte kolonia e mbeses se saj,
05:40
and these are her great-granddaughter colonies.
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dhe keto jane kolonite e ster-mbeses se saj.
05:42
And by doing this, I was able to learn
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Dhe duke e bere kete une isha ne gjendje te mesoj
05:44
that offspring colonies resemble parent colonies
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qe pasardhesit e kolonive perfaqesojne kolonite e prinderve
05:47
in their decisions about which days are so hot
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ne vendimet e tyre se cilat dite jane te nxehta
05:49
that they don't forage,
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qe ata nuk dalin te kerkojne,
05:51
and the offspring of parent colonies
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dhe pasaerdhesi i kolonive te prinderve
05:53
live so far from each other that the ants never meet,
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jetojne aq larg me njeri tjetrin sa milingonat nuk takohen kurre,
05:56
so the ants of the offspring colony
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pra milingonat e pasardhesit te kolonise
05:58
can't be learning this from the parent colony.
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nuk mund ta mesojne kete nga kolonia e prinderit.
06:00
And so our next step is to look
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Pra hapi yne tjeter eshte te shohim
06:02
for the genetic variation
underlying this resemblance.
underlying this resemblance.
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per variacionet gjenetike
duke nenvizuar kete perfaqesim.
duke nenvizuar kete perfaqesim.
06:07
So then I was able to ask, okay, who's doing better?
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Keshtu pastaj, kur isha te drejte te pyesja, ne rregull, kush eshte duke ecur me mire?
06:11
Over the time of the study,
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Gjatë kohës së studimit,
06:12
and especially in the past 10 years,
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dhe sidomos në 10 vitet e fundit,
06:14
there's been a very severe and deepening drought
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ka pasur thatesira shume te renda dhe te thella
06:17
in the Southwestern U.S.,
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ne SHBA-ne Jugperendimore.,
06:19
and it turns out that the
colonies that conserve water,
colonies that conserve water,
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dhe kjo sjell qe
Kolonitë të cilat kursejnë ujin,
Kolonitë të cilat kursejnë ujin,
06:22
that stay in when it's really hot outside,
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qe qendrojne brenda kur me te vertete eshte shume nxehte jashte
06:27
and thus sacrifice getting as much food as possible,
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dhe në këtë mënyrë sakrifikojnë marrjen e sa më shumë ushqime të jetë e mundur,
06:29
are the ones more likely to have offspring colonies.
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jane ato te cilat kane gjasa te kene koloni pasardhese.
06:32
So all this time, I thought that colony 154
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Pra gjate tere ksaj kohe, kam menduar se kolonia 154
06:35
was a loser, because on really dry days,
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ishte e deshtuar, sepse ne dite vertete te thata,
06:37
there'd be just this trickle of foraging,
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nuk do te jete vetem kjo rrjedhe e kerkimit,
06:39
while the other colonies were out
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perderisa koloni te tjera ishin jashte
06:41
foraging, getting lots of food,
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duke kerkuar, duke marre shume ushqim,
06:43
but in fact, colony 154 is a huge success.
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por ne fakt, kolonia 154 eshte nje sukses i madh.
06:46
She's a matriarch.
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Ajo eshte nje matriarkat.
06:47
She's one of the rare great-grandmothers on the site.
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Ajo eshte nje nder te rrallat stergjyshe
06:50
To my knowledge, this is the first time
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Me sa di une, kjo eshte hera e pare
06:53
that we've been able to track
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qe kemi qene ne gjendje te gjejme
06:55
the ongoing evolution of collective behavior
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evolucionon e vazhdueshëm të sjelljes kolektive
06:58
in a natural population of animals
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në një popullsi natyrore kafshësh
07:00
and find out what's actually working best.
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dhe te zbulojme cka ne te verete eshte duke funksionuar me se miri.
07:04
Now, the Internet uses an algorithm
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Tani, interneti perdor nje algoritem
07:07
to regulate the flow of data
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per te rregulluar rrjedhen e te dhenave
07:10
that's very similar to the one
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qe eshte shume e ngjashme me ate
07:12
that the harvester ants are using to regulate
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qe milingonat korrëse janë duke përdorur për të rregulluar
07:14
the flow of foragers.
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rrjedhen e kuptimit.
07:16
And guess what we call this analogy?
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Dhe gjeni cka quajme ne analogji?
07:19
The anternet is coming.
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Anterneti po vjen.
07:21
(Applause)
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(Duartrokitje)
07:23
So data doesn't leave the source computer
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Pra te dhenat nuk lene burimin e kompjuterit
07:26
unless it gets a signal that there's enough bandwidth
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nese nuk merr sinjal te mjaftueshem
07:29
for it to travel on.
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per teudhetuar.
07:32
In the early days of the Internet,
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Ne fillimet e internetit
07:33
when operating costs were really high
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kur shpenzimet operative ishin me të vërtetë të larta
07:35
and it was really important not to lose any data,
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dhe ishte me të vërtetë e rëndësishme të mos humbnim asnjë të dhënë,
07:38
then the system was set up for interactions
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atëherë sistemi u krijua për ndërveprime
07:41
to activate the flow of data.
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për të aktivizuar rrjedhën e te dhënave.
07:44
It's interesting that the ants are using an algorithm
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Është interesante se milingonat janë duke përdorur një algoritëm
07:46
that's so similar to the one that we recently invented,
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që është aq i ngjashem me atë që kohët e fundit kemi shpikur,
07:50
but this is only one of a handful of ant algorithms
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por kjo është vetëm një pjesë e vogël e algoritme të milingonave
07:53
that we know about,
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te cilet njohim,
07:54
and ants have had 130 million years
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dhe milingonat kanë pasur 130 milion vjet
07:58
to evolve a lot of good ones,
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per te zhvilluar me te mirat,
08:00
and I think it's very likely
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dhe mendoj se eshte shume e mundshme
08:01
that some of the other 12,000 species
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se disa nga 12.000 speciet e tjera
08:04
are going to have interesting algorithms
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jane duke pasur algoritma intersante
08:06
for data networks
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per te dhena
08:07
that we haven't even thought of yet.
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per te cilet ende nuk kemi menduar.
08:10
So what happens when operating costs are low?
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Pra, çfarë ndodh kur shpenzimet operative janë të ulëta?
08:13
Operating costs are low in the tropics,
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Shpenzimet operative janë të ulëta në tropik,
08:15
because it's very humid, and it's easy for the ants
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sepse është shumë e lagësht, dhe është e lehtë për milingonat
08:17
to be outside walking around.
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që do të dalin jashtë.
08:20
But the ants are so abundant
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Por milingonat janë kaq të bollshme
08:22
and diverse in the tropics
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dhe të ndryshme në tropik
08:23
that there's a lot of competition.
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se ka shumë konkurrencë.
08:26
Whatever resource one species is using,
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Çfarëdo burim një specie të jete duke përdorur,
08:28
another species is likely to be using that
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një tjetër specie ka të ngjarë të jetë duke përdorur atë
08:31
at the same time.
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në të njëjtën kohë.
08:33
So in this environment, interactions are used
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Pra, në këtë mjedis, ndërveprimet përdoren
08:36
in the opposite way.
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në mënyrë të kundërt.
08:38
The system keeps going
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Sistemi funksionon
08:39
unless something negative happens,
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përveç nëse ndodh diçka negative,
08:41
and one species that I study makes circuits
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dhe nje specie qe kam studiuar ben rrjete
08:43
in the trees of foraging ants
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ne dru per miliongat e huaja
08:45
going from the nest to a food source and back,
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qe shkon nga foleja deri te burimi i ushqimit dhe kthet mbrapa,
08:48
just round and round,
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vetem sillet perqark,
08:50
unless something negative happens,
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derisa i ndodh dicka e keqe,
08:51
like an interaction
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si nderveprimi
08:53
with ants of another species.
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me miliongona te specieve tjera.
08:55
So here's an example of ant security.
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Ja nje shembull i sigurise se milingonave.
08:58
In the middle, there's an ant
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Ne mes, eshte nje milingone
09:00
plugging the nest entrance with its head
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mbyll hyrjen e foles me koke
09:03
in response to interactions with another species.
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ne pergjgije te bashkeveprimit me specie tjera.
09:06
Those are the little ones running around
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Keto jane te vogla qe vrapojne
09:07
with their abdomens up in the air.
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me barqet e tyre lart ne ajer,
09:10
But as soon as the threat is passed,
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Por si te kalon rreziku,
09:12
the entrance is open again,
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hyrja hapet perseri,
09:15
and maybe there are situations
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dhe ndoshta ka situata
09:17
in computer security
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ne sigurimin e kompjuterit
09:18
where operating costs are low enough
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2206
ku shpenzimet operative jane mjaftushem te ulta
09:20
that we could just block access temporarily
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ku ne mund te bllokojme qasjen perkohesisht
09:23
in response to an immediate threat,
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ne pergjigje te ndonje kercenimi te menjehershem
09:25
and then open it again,
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2026
dhe pastaj e hapim perseri,
09:27
instead of trying to build
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ne vend se te provojme te ndertojme
09:29
a permanent firewall or fortress.
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nje keshtjelle te perhershme.
09:33
So another environmental challenge
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Pra, një tjetër sfidë e mjedisit
09:35
that all systems have to deal with
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qe të gjitha sistemet duhet ta kene parasysh
09:36
is resources, finding and collecting them.
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jane burimet, ti gjejne dhe mbledhin ato.
09:42
And to do this, ants solve the problem
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Dhe per te bere kete, miliongonat zgjidhin problemin
09:44
of collective search,
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e gjetjes kolektive,
09:45
and this is a problem that's of great interest
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dhe ky eshte nje problem me interes te madh
09:46
right now in robotics,
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1484
per momentin ne robotike,
09:48
because we've understood that,
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1732
sepse ne e kemi kuptuar qe,
09:50
rather than sending a single,
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1614
ne vend se te dergojme nje robot
09:51
sophisticated, expensive robot out
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3495
te sofistikuar, te shtrejte
09:55
to explore another planet
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per te eksploruar nje tjeter planet
09:56
or to search a burning building,
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ose te kerkojme nje ndertese
09:59
that instead, it may be more effective
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2600
me e dobishme mund te jete qe
10:01
to get a group of cheaper robots
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4377
te marrim nje grup robotesh me te lire
10:06
exchanging only minimal information,
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2545
duke shkembyer vetem informacione minimale,
10:08
and that's the way that ants do it.
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2799
dhe kjo eshte menyra se si milingonat e beje kete gje.
10:11
So the invasive Argentine ant
246
599464
1765
Pra miliongonat invazive Argjentinase
10:13
makes expandable search networks.
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bejne zgjerimin e rrjetit te kerkimit.
10:15
They're good at dealing with the main problem
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2273
Ato jane te mira ne trajtimin e problemit kryesor
10:17
of collective search,
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te kerkimit kolektiv,
10:19
which is the trade-off between
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607163
2566
gje qe eshte nje trade-off ndermjet
10:21
searching very thoroughly
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1336
kerkimit ne teresi
10:23
and covering a lot of ground.
252
611065
1997
dhe mbulimit,
10:25
And what they do is,
253
613062
895
Dhe ajo cka ato bejne,
10:25
when there are many ants in a small space,
254
613957
2387
eshte qe kur ka shume miliongona ne vende te vogla,
10:28
then each one can search very thoroughly
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616344
2213
atehere secila mund te hulumtoj shume thelle
10:30
because there will be another ant nearby
256
618557
1624
sepse do te kete nje tjter miliongone afer
10:32
searching over there,
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1357
duke kerkuar atje,
10:33
but when there are a few ants
258
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1647
por kur jane pak miliongona
10:35
in a large space,
259
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2055
ne nje hapersire me te madhe,
10:37
then they need to stretch out their paths
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2414
atëherë ata duhet të shtrijnë shtigjet e tyre
10:39
to cover more ground.
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1803
për të mbuluar më shumë terren.
10:41
I think they use interactions to assess density,
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629457
2954
Unë mendoj se ata përdorin ndërveprimet për të vlerësuar dendësinë,
10:44
so when they're really crowded,
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keshtu qe kur kane me shume grumbull,
10:45
they meet more often,
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1102
ato takohen me shpesh,
10:46
and they search more thoroughly.
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2465
dhe kerkojne me hollesisht.
10:49
Different ant species must use different algorithms,
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3400
Lloje të ndryshme të milingonave duhet të përdorin algoritme të ndryshme,
10:52
because they've evolved to deal with
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2522
sepse ata kanë evoluar për t'u marrë me
10:55
different resources,
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1671
burime të ndryshme,
10:56
and it could be really useful to know about this,
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2559
dhe kjo mund të jetë vërtetë e dobishme të njihet,
10:59
and so we recently asked ants
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1642
dhe keshtu ne se fundmi pyetem milingonat
11:01
to solve the collective search problem
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2450
te zgjidhnin provlemin e kerkimit kolektiv
11:03
in the extreme environment
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1368
ne ambientin ekstrem
11:04
of microgravity
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1558
te mikrogravitetit
11:06
in the International Space Station.
274
654377
1976
ne Stacionin Ndërkombëtar të Hapësirës.
11:08
When I first saw this picture, I thought,
275
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1545
Per here te pare kur e kam pare kete foto, mendova,
11:09
Oh no, they've mounted the habitat vertically,
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657898
2857
Oh jo, ata kane montuar ambientin vetikalisht,
11:12
but then I realized that, of course, it doesn't matter.
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2618
por pastaj kuptova, se kjo gje nuk ka rendesi.
11:15
So the idea here is that the ants
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2637
Pra idea eshte kjo qe miliongonat
11:18
are working so hard to hang on
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666010
1970
jane duke punuar kaq shume qe te kapen fort
11:19
to the wall or the floor or whatever you call it
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3057
ne mur ose dysheme ose sidoqo qe mund ti quani
11:23
that they're less likely to interact,
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3009
sa ata kane me pak gjasa te bashkeveprojne,
11:26
and so the relationship between
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1244
dhe keshtu marrdhenia ndermjet
11:27
how crowded they are and how often they meet
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2120
sa grumbullim i madh eshte dhe sa shpesh takohen ata
11:29
would be messed up.
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1725
do te ngaterrohet.
11:31
We're still analyzing the data.
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1395
Ne jemi ende duke analizuar të dhënat.
11:32
I don't have the results yet.
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1964
Une nuk i kam rezultatet akoma.
11:34
But it would be interesting to know
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1694
Por do te ishte intersante te dime
11:36
how other species solve this problem
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2459
se si specie te tjera e zgjidhin kete problem
11:38
in different environments on Earth,
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2564
ne mjedise te tjera ne planet,
11:41
and so we're setting up a program
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1266
keshtu qe jemi duke bere nje program
11:42
to encourage kids around the world
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2160
te inkurajojme femije kudo ne bote
11:44
to try this experiment with different species.
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2536
te provojne kete eksperiment me specie te ndryshme.
11:47
It's very simple.
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1767
Eshte shume e thjeshte.
11:48
It can be done with cheap materials.
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2090
Mund te behet me materiale te lira.
11:51
And that way, we could make a global map
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Dhe ne kete menyre, ne mund te bejme nje harte globale
11:53
of ant collective search algorithms.
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3347
te nje algoritmi te kerkimit kolektiv te miliongonave.
11:57
And I think it's pretty likely that the invasive species,
297
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2483
Unë mendoj se është shumë e mundshme që speciet invazive,
11:59
the ones that come into our buildings,
298
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2149
jane ato te cilat vine ne shtepite tona,
12:01
are going to be really good at this,
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1742
do te jene shume mire ne kete gje,
12:03
because they're in your kitchen
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1848
sepse ato jane ne kuzhinen tuaj
12:05
because they're really good
at finding food and water.
at finding food and water.
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3907
sepse ato jane shume te mira ne
gjetjen e ushqimit dhe ujit.
gjetjen e ushqimit dhe ujit.
12:09
So the most familiar resource for ants
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717339
3265
Pra burimi me i njohur per miliongonat
12:12
is a picnic,
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1315
eshte pikniku,
12:13
and this is a clustered resource.
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2145
dhe ky eshte nje burim i grupuar.
12:16
When there's one piece of fruit,
305
724064
999
Ku ka nje cope frut,
12:17
there's likely to be another piece of fruit nearby,
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2515
ka gjasa qe te kete edhe nje cope frut aty afer,
12:19
and the ants that specialize on clustered resources
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3432
dhe milingonat te cilat jane te specializuara ne burime te grupuara
12:23
use interactions for recruitment.
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1942
perdorin bashkeveprimin per rekrutim.
12:24
So when one ant meets another,
309
732952
1277
Pra kur nje milingone takon nje tjeter,
12:26
or when it meets a chemical deposited
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1625
ose kur takon nje depozite kimike
12:27
on the ground by another,
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1736
ne toke,
12:29
then it changes direction to follow
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1833
atëherë ajo ndryshon drejtim për të ndjekur
12:31
in the direction of the interaction,
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1573
në drejtim të ndërveprimit,
12:32
and that's how you get the trail of ants
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740996
1977
dhe kjo është menyra si te merrni gjurmët e milingonave
12:34
sharing your picnic.
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1413
ne piknikun tuaj.
12:36
Now this is a place where I think we might be able
316
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1695
Tani ky është një vend ku unë mendoj se ne mund
12:38
to learn something from ants about cancer.
317
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3741
të mësojnë diçka nga milingonat rreth kancerit.
12:41
I mean, first, it's obvious that we could do a lot
318
749822
1981
Dua te them, eshte e qarte se ne mund te bejme shume
12:43
to prevent cancer
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751803
1610
per te parandaluar kancerin
12:45
by not allowing people to spread around
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753413
2577
duke mos lejuar njerezit te shperndajne
12:47
or sell the toxins that promote
321
755990
1944
ose shesin toksinat qe promovojne
12:49
the evolution of cancer in our bodies,
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2780
evolimi e kancerit ne trupat tone,
12:52
but I don't think the ants can help us much with this
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2346
por nuk mendoj qe milingonat mund te na ndihmojne shume rreth kesaj
12:55
because ants never poison their own colonies.
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3358
sepse miliongat helmojne kolonite e tyre.
12:58
But we might be able to learn something from ants
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1332
Por ne mund te mesojme dicka nga miliongonat
12:59
about treating cancer.
326
767750
1763
se si te trajtojme kancerin.
13:01
There are many different kinds of cancer.
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769513
2225
Ka lloje te ndryshme te kancerit.
13:03
Each one originates in a particular part of the body,
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2978
Secili ze fill ne pjese te vecanta te trupit.
13:06
and then some kinds of cancer will spread
329
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2966
dhe disa kancer shperndahen
13:09
or metastasize to particular other tissues
330
777682
2830
ose kalojne ne metastaze ne inde te vecanta
13:12
where they must be getting
resources that they need.
resources that they need.
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2880
ku me sa duket furnizohn me lendet
qe kane nevoje.
qe kane nevoje.
13:15
So if you think from the perspective
332
783392
1808
Pra, nëse ju mendoni nga perspektiva
13:17
of early metastatic cancer cells
333
785200
1950
e qelizat metastatike te hershme të kancerit
13:19
as they're out searching around
334
787150
1623
se si ata janë në kërkim
13:20
for the resources that they need,
335
788773
2317
për burimet qe kanë nevojë,
13:23
if those resources are clustered,
336
791090
1983
nese keto burime jane te grupuara,
13:25
they're likely to use interactions for recruitment,
337
793073
3013
ato kane gjasa te perdorin nderveprime per rekrutim,
13:28
and if we can figure out how
cancer cells are recruiting,
cancer cells are recruiting,
338
796086
3093
dhe nese mund te zbulojme si
qelizat e kancerit zhvillohen,
qelizat e kancerit zhvillohen,
13:31
then maybe we could set traps
339
799179
2347
atehere ndodshta mund ti veme ne kurth
13:33
to catch them before they become established.
340
801526
4049
ti kapim ato para se ato te zhvillohen.
13:37
So ants are using interactions in different ways
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805575
3235
Pra miliongonat jane duke perdorur nderveprim ne menyra te ndryshme
13:40
in a huge variety of environments,
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808810
2602
ne shume llojshmeri mjedisore
13:43
and we could learn from this
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811412
1821
dhe ne mund te mesojme nga kjo
13:45
about other systems that operate
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813233
1777
per sisteme te tjera qe operojne
13:47
without central control.
345
815010
2337
pa kontroll qendror.
13:49
Using only simple interactions,
346
817347
1979
Duke perdorur vetem nderveprime te thjeshta,
13:51
ant colonies have been performing
347
819326
1795
kolonite e miliongonave kane qene duke performuar
13:53
amazing feats for more than 130 million years.
348
821121
3633
"amazing feat"(film vizatimor) per me shume se 130 milion vite.
13:56
We have a lot to learn from them.
349
824754
2140
Ne kemi shume per te mesuar nga ato.
13:58
Thank you.
350
826894
2738
Faleminderit
14:01
(Applause)
351
829632
2733
(Duartroktije)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Deborah Gordon - EcologistBy studying how ant colonies work without any one leader, Deborah Gordon has identified striking similarities in how ant colonies, brains, cells and computer networks regulate themselves.
Why you should listen
Ecologist Deborah M. Gordon has learned that ant colonies can work without central control by using simple interactions like how often the insects touch antennae. Contrary to the notion that colonies are organized by efficient ants, she has instead discovered that evolution has produced “noisy” systems that tolerate accident and respond flexibly to the environment. When conditions are tough, natural selection favors colonies that conserve resources.
Her studies of ant colonies have led her and her Stanford colleagues to the discovery of the “Anternet,” which regulates foraging in ants in the same way the internet regulates data traffic. But as she said to Wired in 2013, "Insect behavior mimicking human networks ... is actually not what’s most interesting about ant networks. What’s far more interesting are the parallels in the other direction: What have the ants worked out that we humans haven’t thought of yet?" Her latest exploration: How do ants behave in space?
Deborah Gordon | Speaker | TED.com